Presser-bar-clamping device for sewing-machines.



. 0. MoNBIL.

PRBSSBB, BAR GLAMPING DEVICE PoR SEWING MAGHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1904.

Patented Feb.l 21,-1911.

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c; MQNEIL. Y PRESSER BAR GLAMPING DEVICE POR SEWING MACHINES.APPLICATION 'FILED JUNE 2.1, 1904.

984,690. f Patented Feb.21,1911.

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G. MoNEIL.

PRESSR BAB. GLAMPING DEVIGB FOR SEWlNG MACHINES.

APPLIOA'TION'IILBD- JUNE 21, 1904.

984,690. Patented Feu-21, 1911.

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CHESTER MCNEIL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNION SPECIAL SEWINGMACHINE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

` PRESSER-BAR-CLAMPING DEVICE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

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To all 'whom i may concern:

Be it known that I, CHESTER MGNEIL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook` State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Presser-Bar-ClampingDevices forSewingMachines, of which the following is a description,reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters andfigures of reference marked thereon.

In Patent No. 689,375, of December 17th, 1901, granted R. Gr. Woodward,for improvements in presser bar clamping mechanisms for sewing machines,there is shown, described and claimed, the combination in a sewingmachine, of special means for operating upon the presser bar to clamp itand hold the material firmly in place while it. is being stripped fromthe needles while the latter rise. Such an invention is particularlyuseful in sewing heavy materials, such as leather, but the invention setforth in the patent above referred to, has been found to be somewhatdefective in practical operation, inasmuch as no means were provided forreleasing` the clamping device while the needles were moving out of thegoods, so that if one of the needles should break while in the goods,the operator would have to turn the shaft of the machine until theneedles were raised entir-ely out of said goods, and this it is verydiiieult to do on heavy material.

rIhe object of my present invention is, therefore, to provide broadly anarrangement for clamping the presser bar during` the upward movement ofthe needles until the needles have raised out of the work, and the feedbegins to operate, but wit-h auxiliary means controlled by the operator,whereby this clamping means may be released at such time as it wouldnormally be acting so as to allow the presser bar to be released fromthe clamp, and allow the ready movement of the needles to raise themfrom the cloth plate.

Another object of my invention is to provide an arrangement such asdescribed, in which the auxiliary means for releasing the clampingmechanism are controlled by the presser bar operating lever. v

The invention, therefore, consists in various mattershereinafterdescribed and referred t-o in the appended claims.

Speciieation of Letters Patent.

Application filed J une 21, 1904.

Patented Feb. 21, 1911i. serial No. 213,530.

In the accompanying drawings, which illust-rate my invention, Figure lis a rear elevation of a cylinder vamping sewing machine of the UnionSpecial type, embodying said invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevation ofthe same; Fig. 3 is a front view of a portion of the head of a sewingmachine, showing enlarged and more in detail the clamping and releasingmechanism in the position of release; Fig. 4l; is a similar view,showing` the parts in clamped position; and Figs. 5 and 6 arerespectively perspective and side elevations, partly in section, of theclamping bar or rod.

In these drawings, the invention is shown as applied to a Union Specialcylinder vamping sewing machine, as covered, for example, by patentgranted Lansing Onderdenk, October 18th, 1895, No. 547,675, but it willbe understood that in its use the invention is not so limited but thatit may be applied to any machine.

The standard of the machine is shown at A, and it has the cylindricalbed or cloth plate B, and t-he goose neck or overhanging arm C, with theusual lugs having bearings for the needle bar D, and the presser bar E,carrying the auxiliary presser foot F, which on machines of this kind isused in connection with the roller presser foot- F, the presser barbeing normally pressed downwardly by the flat spring C. The flat springG rests on a pin G secured to the presser bar. As a means for lift-ingthe presser bar, I have provided the usual presser lifting lever P whichis pivoted to the overhanging arm and at its forward` end extendsunderneath the pin Cr carried by the presser bar. The usual springsecured to the lever P and to the head of the machine, serves to holdthe rear end of the lever P raised and,a the front end thereof out ofengagement with the pin Cr on the presser bar. These parts are of theusual construction and will not need further description.

While I have referred to the part F as the presser foot, and the part Eas the presser bar, it will be understood that the said part F may bethe ordinary needle guide foot, and I propose to cover the inventionwhether it is applied to the needle guide foot bar or to the presserbar, which carries the presser foot- F, or to the presser bar whichcarries the usual roller presser foot.

As in the ordinary construction of machines, the two presser feet areconnected together so as to move as one, it will be understood that theclamping of one of the bars would hold both in fixed position.

The driving parts of the machine are of the usual construction, theneedle lever H being operated in the regular way, and sleeved on thestud a, secured to the goose neck. Passing into the needle lever H,above the sleeve, which lits over the needle lever stud a is a smallstud Z), upon which is pivoted one end of a link c, which at itsopposite end is pivotcd to an arm CZ, which at its upper end is fixed ona shaft e projecting through to the opposite side of the goose neck, andhaving fixed to its opposite end an arm f, to the upper end of which isattached by the usual ball and socket clamp g, one end of the pitman rodZt, which pitman rod at its opposite end has a clamp 'Z fitting over aball stud 7c, which ball stud is secured in the upper end of the arm Z.The arm Z has a sleeve on its lower end pivoted upon the stud m on theforward end of the goose neck C. Pivoted on this arm Z by means of thestud 0 is a lever O having an opening at its forward end to receive thevertical pin or bolt K, which passes through it, and is adapted toengage the forward end of the rod L, which has a central enlargedportion M, having an opening, embracing the presser bar E. This bar orrod L at its rear end rests in a socket in the plate N. This rod or barL has a very slight vertical movement and normally by means of thespring p presses upwardly against the end of the rod or bar L, and-clamps the sides of the perforated portion M against the presser bar,this spring resting upon a lug on the goose neck.

The lever O has a rearwardly projecting arm carrying on its rear end anadjustable plate (I, having a downwardly projecting portion, which isadapted to be engaged by an upwardly projecting lug 1^ carried upon thepresserbar operating lever P.

R represents a block carried by the lever O, through which passes ascrew s, which bears against the link Z and acts as an adjustable stopfor the lever O, to maintain it in its adjustable position.

In the normal operation of the machine: the arm Z is vibrated back andforth by means of the link h, and its connection to the needle lever H.Starting with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 4:, it will beseen that the clamping bar L is in its eXtreme upper position, and thelever O is also raised at its forward end. The arm Z is out of contactwith the pin s. In this position of the parts, the presser bar e isclamped by the clamping bar L. The needles at this time are at the lowerend of their stroke, and as the needles begin to rise the needle leverH, through the link 7L, rocks the arm Z forward. Until the arm Zcontacts with the adjusting screw s there will be no movement of thelever O. rIherefore, during the first part of the upward movement of theneedle, the presser bar is clamped, and the material thus held firmly inplace while it is being stripped from the needles. however, begin toleave the fabric, the arm Z engages the adjusting screw s and tilts thelever O on the stud 0, and through the bolt K depresses the forward endof the clamping bar or rod L, thus relieving the presser bar, so thatthe same may be raised and the feed of the fabric take place. Theclamping bar or rod L will be held depressed unt-il the needle bar hasdescended through part of its stroke, after which through the link ZLthe lever O will be raised at its forward end and the bar L released, sothat through the spring p the presser bar will again be clamped. If,however, it should be desired to release the presser bar when theneedles are at the lower end of their stroke, as is sometimes desirablewhen a needle breaks in the material, the Operator swings the presserbar lifting lever P through the usual knee shift or treadle, and as thelever P is swung about its axis, the projecting cam pin 1' will engagethe adjustable plate gon the end of the arm O and swing the arm O aboutthe stud o, depressing the forward end of the lever O, and through thebolt K depress the clamping rod L to release the presser bar. The pin 'ris so positioned on the lever P that the lever O is swung to re-l leasethe presser bar before the forward end of the lever P engages the stud Gon the presser bar, whereby the presser bar is lifted in the usualmanner. The plate g is adjustably connected to the lever O mainly forthe purpose of varying the timing of the throw of said lever O relativeto the lever P. These parts should be timed so that when the lever P isreleased, the clamp will not grip the presser bar until the presserfoot. is bearing upon the material. It will be seen that if the plate ybe adjusted to the left as viewed in Fig. 1, the pin r will contact withsaid plate at an earlier period when the presser foot is raised by thelever P, and will be released from said pin r at a later period when thefoot is lowered.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Let ters Patent, is

1. A sewing machine including in combination, a needle, means foroperating said needle, a work support, means Vfor clamping the materialupon the work support, including a presser bar, a presser foot connectedthereto, a clamping device for the presser bar operated by a moving partof themachine, which alternately clamps and releases the same, manuallyoperated means for releasing said clamp including a pivoted As soon asthe needles, Y

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lever, a movable device coperating with said pivoted lever, and meansfor varying the time of the throw of said lever relative to the movementof said movable device.

2. A sewing machine including in combination a needle and means foroperating it, a work support, means for clamping the material upon thework support including a presser bar and a presser foot carried thereby,a clamping device for the presser bar including a moving frame, operatedby a moving part of the machine, manually operated means for releasingsaid clamping means, including a lever pivoted upon said moving frame.

3. A sewing machine including in combination, a needle, means foroperating said needle, a work support, means for clamping the materialupon the work support, including a presser bar, a presser foot connectedthereto, a clamping device for the presser bar including a moving frameoperated by a moving part of the machine, manually operated means forreleasing said clamping device, including a lever pivoted upon saidmoving frame, a movable device coperating with said device, and meansfor varying the time of the throw of said lever, relative to themovement of said movable device.

4. A sewing machine including in combination a needle, a work support,means for clamping the material upon the work support, including apresser bar and a presser foot connected thereto, a clamping device forsaid presser bar, operated by a moving part of the machine whichalternately clamps and releases the same, manually operated means forreleasing said clamp, including a pivoted lever and means for raisingthe work clamping means above the work support and for operating saidpivoted lever.

5. A sewing machine including in combination, a needle, means foroperating said needle, a work supporting member, means for clamping thematerial upon said work supporting member including a presser foot, avertically moving bar connected to said presser foot, a clamping collarhaving means for clamping said bar, said collar being operated by amoving part of the machine, for alternately clamping and releasing saidbar, manually operated means for releasing said clamping collar,including a pivoted lever, a hand operated lever, and devices operatedby said hand operated lever for moving said first named lever to releasethe clamping collar and 'for raising the presser foot.

6. A sewing machine including in combination, a needle, means foroperating the same, a work supporting member, means for clamping thematerial upon the work supporting member, including a presser foot, a

vertically moving bar connected to the presser foot, a clamping collaradapted to grip said vertically moving bar, means operated by a movingpart of the machine for alternately clamping and releasing said bar, andmanually operated means for releasing the clamping collar including apivoted lever, a hand operated lever, a projecting member movable withsaid hand operated lever for engaging the outer end of said first namedlever for moving the same to release the clamping collar, and aprojecting member moved by said hand operated lever for raising thepresser foot from the material.

7. A sewing machine including in combination a needle, and means foroperating the same, a work support, means for clamping the material uponthe work support, including a presser bar and a presser foot carriedthereby, a clamping device for said presser bar operated by a movingpart of the machine, which alternately clamps and releases the same,manually operative means for releasing said clamping device, including atilting lever and means for raising the work clamping means above thework support, one end of said lever having an adjustable connection withsaid clamping device and the other end of said lever being operablyengaged by the means for raising the work clamping means.

8. A sewing machine including in combination a presser bar, a clampingdevice therefor, including a rod having a collar in engagement with thepresser bar, a lever having a part in engagement with said rod, a springnormally pressing said rod so as to bring the collar thereon inengagement with the presser bar, means for lifting said presser bar,said last named means having a device for operating said lever torelease the clamping device.

9. A sewing machine including in combi nation a presser bar, a presserbar lifting device, a clamping device for said presser bar including arod having means for engaging said presser bar, a lever having a part inengagement with said rod, a spring normally pressing said rod intoengagement with the presser bar, an oscillating crank to which saidlever is attached, connections between said oscillating crank and amoving part of the machine, and connections between said leverl and thepresser bar lifting device.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

CHESTER MGNEIL.

